House
Approves Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Spending Bill; Amendment to Restore Funding to Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program
Succeeds
On July 19th, the full U.S. House of Representatives approved
its FY 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor HHS) spending bill by a 276 to 140 vote. The funding bill includes $154.2
billion in discretionary funds, which represents $12.5 billion more than President Bush’s FY 2008 budget request. The Labor
HHS spending bill was previously approved by the House Appropriations Committee on July 11th and the Labor HHS Subcommittee on June 7th.
Under the House-approved bill, funding for most alcohol and drug prevention and treatment programs would remain the same as the amounts in the
House Appropriations Committee-approved bill. However, funding for the Department of Education’s Safe and Drug-Free Schools
and Committees State Grants Program would be restored to the FY 2007 funding level.
During debate of the Labor HHS bill on the House floor,
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) offered an amendment to increase funding for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Committees State Grants
program from the $300 million approved by the House Appropriations Committee to $346.5 million, which would be level to FY 2007 funding.
In her comments on the House floor, Congresswoman Johnson emphasized her strong support for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities
State Grants program, expressing that the program, which serves 97 percent the United States’ schools, has been shown to be extremely
effective and has contributed to a 23 percent decline in drug use among youth over the past five years. Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) rose in
support of Congresswoman Johnson’s amendment and spoke in favor of ensuring that prevention programs receive adequate resources.
Speaking of the large number of children who end up in the juvenile justice system because of alcohol and other drugs, and of the over 20
million people who are addicted to alcohol and other drugs, Congressman Kennedy expressed his strong support for prevention programming such as the
Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program. Following House floor debate, Congresswoman Johnson’s amendment was
approved by a voice vote.
Under the House-approved spending bill, drug and alcohol education,
prevention, treatment and research programming would receive the following amounts:
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The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant would
receive $1.794 billion, a $35 million increase over FY 2007 funding levels. Under the Labor HHS spending bill approved by the
Senate Appropriations Committee, the SAPT Block Grant would receive $1.7586 billion, funding level to last year and to the President’s FY 2008
budget request.
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The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) would receive $399.3
million, a $328,000 increase over FY 2007 funding levels. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended that CSAT receive $425.6
million, a $26.7 million increase over last year’s funding and $73.5 million over the President’s budget request.
Under both the House and Senate Committee-approved funding bills, the Access to Recovery program would receive $100 million, level to last
year’s funding.
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The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) would receive $192.9
million, funding equal to FY 2007 levels. The Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended that CSAP receive $197.1 million, a
$4.2 million increase over last year’s funding and $40.6 more than the President’s budget request.
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Following approval of Congresswoman Johnson’s amendment, the Safe
and Drug-Free Schools State Grants program would receive $346.5 million, restoring the program to its FY 2007 funding level; the Senate
Appropriations Committee recommended that this program receive $300 million, which would represent a cut of $46.5 million, and $200 million more than
the President’s budget request.
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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) would receive $1.016 billion,
a $14.9 million increase over FY 2007 spending. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended that NIDA receive $1.0226 billion,
a $23.6 million increase over last year’s funding and $22.6 million over the President’s budget request.
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The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) would
receive $443 million, a $6.6 million increase over FY 2007. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended that NIAAA receive
$445.7 million, a $9.7 million increase over FY 2007 and $8.7 million over the President’s budget request.
Both chambers of Congress are expected to remain in legislative
session until Friday, August 3rd. It is unclear whether the full Senate will vote on its Labor HHS spending bill prior to the
August recess or after Congress returns following Labor Day. President Bush has threatened to veto a number of spending bills, including the Labor
HHS bill, if such bills exceed the cap set in his FY 2008 budget.
The Bush Administration recently released a Statement of
Administration Policy (SAP) that is directed at the current Congressional budget process and in particular, the House Labor HHS bill; the SAP
emphasized that the cuts proposed in the President’s budget are necessary to redirect resources to more important needs.
The SAP expressed the Administration’s disappointment with the failure of the House to eliminate a range of programs, including the
Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants Program, and urged the House to adopt the terminations and reductions proposed in the Budget
to restrain spending and redirect funding to high-priority education initiatives. The SAP also includes
language strongly encouraging the House to adopt the NOMS penalty that was proposed in the Administrations budget; the penalty would have proposed to
cut at least five percent of State SAPT Block Grant funds for those States that do not submit the National Outcome Measures (NOMs) information by
October 2007. Neither the House nor Senate included this proposal in its Appropriations bills.
The status and text of the House and Senate Labor HHS spending bills can be
found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/. The Administration’s Statement
of Policy (SAP) can be viewed at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/110-1/hr3043sap-h.pdf.
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Federal Student Aid Legislation Moves Forward in Congress; Two Pieces of Legislation Contain Provisions Affecting People with Drug
Convictions and Incarcerated Youth
During the first session of the110th Congress, both the
U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have been formulating legislation to improve access to higher education and student financial aid.
Recently, two pieces of legislation have moved forward in the legislative process, H.R. 2669, the “College Cost Reduction Act of 2007”
and S. 1642, the “Higher Education Amendments of 2007.”
H.R. 2669, the “College Cost Reduction Act of
2007,” would make several changes to the student lending process, including raising the maximum amount of Pell grants to over $5,000 over the
next five years and capping annual loan payments for students at a percentage of their income. The Senate Committee-approved
version included a provision to remove from the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) the current question about whether the applicant had
been convicted of a drug offense. However, during debate on the Senate floor, an amendment was offered and approved that would keep
the drug question on the FAFSA.
The version of the legislation approved by the Senate HELP
(Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee would have prohibited the Secretary of Education from requiring an applicant to provide information
regarding the student’s conviction for possession or sale of a controlled substance on the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
form or any other common financial reporting form. However, during debate of the “College Cost Reduction Act of
2007” on the Senate floor, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) proposed an amendment to keep the drug crime question on the FAFSA form.
Following a brief dialogue with HELP Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-MA) during which Senator Kennedy urged support for Senator Graham’s
amendment, the amendment was approved.
The House and Senate have each recently approved different
versions of H.R. 2669 and conferees have been appointed by the House and the Senate to resolve the differences between the two bills.
President Bush has stated his intention of vetoing this legislation due to cost and certain regulatory changes.
S. 1642, the “Higher Education Amendments of
2007,” would reauthorize portions of the Higher Education Act and would also make a number of policy changes to the federal financial aid
system. S. 1642 contains provisions aimed at improving the Incarcerated Youthful Offenders program, also known as the Specter
grant program.
Key provisions of S. 1642 include:
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Raising the Incarcerated Youthful Offenders
program’s eligibility age from 25 to 35 years old; individuals who meet that age requirement, are incarcerated in a State prison, including a
prerelease facility, and are eligible for release within five years would be eligible unless they have been convicted of murder, a criminal offense
against a victim who is a minor, or a “sexually violent offense” as defined by federal law
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Requiring the Secretary of Education to establish a grant
program to the State correctional education agencies to assist and encourage incarcerated youth to acquire functional literacy, life, and job skills
through the pursuit of a postsecondary education certificate, or an associate or bachelors degree while incarcerated; employment counseling and
related services would start during incarceration and end within a year after release, allowing each individual a maximum of five years in the
program; one of these years may be devoted to graduate education study or to remedial education for students who have obtained a secondary school
diploma or a recognized equivalent
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Requiring State educational agencies applying for grant
funds to submit a proposal that identifies the scope of youth in need of postsecondary and vocational training, and lists the institutions that will
provide the services, the cooperating public and private agencies and businesses that will provide related services such as counseling for career
development, parenting skills, health, and substance abuse; in addition, applicants would be required to describe objectives and evaluation methods
for measuring success in attaining employment, keeping employment, program completion, and recidivism; State correctional agencies and cooperating
institutions would also be required, to the extent practicable, to use high-tech applications in developing educational programs
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Requiring participating State correctional education
agencies to provide to each State for each eligible student not more than $3,000 annually for tuition, books and essential materials and $300
annually for related career development, drug and alcohol addiction counseling, parenting skills training and health education services and to
annually report results of program success measurement evaluations to the Secretary of Education
S. 1642 been approved by the Senate HELP Committee and is being
reviewed on the Senate floor this week; similar legislation has not yet been introduced in the House.
It is unclear whether the conference process for H.R. 2669,
the “College Cost Reduction Act,” will begin before the Congress is scheduled to start its August recess on Friday, August
3rd. The House is expected to begin work on its Higher Education Act reauthorization bill in the fall. The
status and text of H.R. 2669 and S. 1642 can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/.
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